• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Progress. Of a sort. I suppose.

jay hay-char

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,683
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Just to recap: I was diagnosed T2 about 5 weeks ago, prescribed 2X500 metformin plus diet and exercise. I'm not counting every carb, but I reckon I'm eating about 80 g per day. Age is, erm, mid to late 50s , BMI is towards the upper end of "healthy". Before I had full-on blood tests, my GP did an initial pin prick test which showed a reading of about 15 mmol/L. I was ill at the time and hadn't eaten for some days, so I guess that was a fasting test, but possibly ramped up by the fact that I was ill. I don't have the readings from my first hospital blood test, which confirmed the diagnosis, although I had a second test last week and am awaiting the results at present - at which time I will also ask for the initial numbers.

Having originally decided not to get a blood/glucose monitor, I changed my mind last week, and did my first tests this morning. 8.4 fasting then 11.1 about 90 minutes after eating breakfast (porridge with a couple of medium sized chopped strawberries). Somehow, I was expecting better than this - not necessarily the spike after eating, since that's a learning curve anyway, but more the still rather high levels generally. I met a friend the other day who (previously unknown to me) was diagnosed T2 about three months ago, who cautioned me against expecting too much, too soon and who said that, from his experience, any results after a month aren't necessarily going to show an immediate dramatic improvement.

Not necessarily expecting any answers from here, as we're all different and there's no such thing as typical progress, but I thought it might be of interest to some, just to follow how things go for me. I will update from time to time over the next month or so.
 
Good luck Jay. You are right, it is a learning curve and your meter will help you with this. My suggestion is that you keep a rigid food diary of everything you eat and drink, with the portion sizes. Then add your before and after readings alongside this. It is a bit of a phaff, but it is a good way to learn. It may just be that your porridge was too large a portion. Try testing immediately before you eat, then at 2 hours after your first bite.
 
Jay, you have come to the right place for information I was diagnosed Mid May, shocked , angry , frustrated don't tell the half of it. Decided I needed to get some information before accepting the Metformin and dietary instructions from the DN.

Made many internet searches and received confusing information from various sources, it was only when I found this site that I received what I perceived as very pertinent information from other people in the same or at least similar boat.

Many on this forum or extremely knowledgable and supportive.

Just ask away and someone will do their best to answer.

Look forward to seeing more posts from you and good luck in your new adventure.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I was initially tested in a similar situation to you; I was unwell anyway and hadn't eaten since the day before, so when my GP did a fingerprick test and it measured 7.9 I was sent to have bloods done. First ones came back borderline so had to have second FBG done (awaiting result).

I could be wrong on this as I don't take Metformin (yet anyway), but I think it takes some time to get maximum effect. Can anyone confirm that?
 
Yes, I heard that it can take a few weeks for the metformin to be effective. Dietary changes however should show benefits right away. The metformin does not lower bg much, but the right food and exercise will do the job.
 
I was told today that it can be a year to see the benefits of lifestyle changes on things like BG and BP. I really hope she was exaggerating because I've been at this 2 weeks and I'm really hoping to see some big benefits soon!
 
Loobles said:
I was told today that it can be a year to see the benefits of lifestyle changes on things like BG and BP. I really hope she was exaggerating because I've been at this 2 weeks and I'm really hoping to see some big benefits soon!
Click to expand...

The numbers in my signature outlines my personal experience, since diagnosis; which isn't yet a year. Individuals' progress will be as individual as each person, but I would have been horrified at the prospect of no evidence of improvement for a year.
 
Loobles said:
I was told today that it can be a year to see the benefits of lifestyle changes on things like BG and BP. I really hope she was exaggerating because I've been at this 2 weeks and I'm really hoping to see some big benefits soon!
Click to expand...
I think she might be exaggerating. I managed to get out of the diabetic range by the time my first 3 month review came about. I found the quick improvements to be very motivational. Waiting a year for a tangible improvement would have done my head in lol
 
You should see immediate benefits from a low carb diet. Exercise will not show such an up front benefit, whilst Metformin should kick in after a month. Merge these all together and the improvement will be there for some time until it levels out.

That is the easy bit. The longer term haul will require more motivation and 100% commitment to the cause.

jim
 
Loobles said:
I was told today that it can be a year to see the benefits of lifestyle changes on things like BG and BP. I really hope she was exaggerating because I've been at this 2 weeks and I'm really hoping to see some big benefits soon!
Click to expand...


I am sure she was just trying to be kind so as not to put too much stress on you to expect changes all at once, if you see what I mean. My BP dropped significantly very soon after I added an extra walk to my daily routine and stopped adding salt to my meals. It is now on the low side of normal, down from the 150's. My HbA1c came down from 53 to 46 just 2 months after getting a meter and starting low carb without any meds. I have also reduced my BMI from 31 to 23 since diagnosis in January, which I am sure is the reason my BS are normalising. (in addition to low carbing). It is still a work in progress though.
 
With the rubbish they will tell you to eat and the not to test you probably wouldn't see any difference for a year... and when you did it would be the wrong way.
 
Mud Island Dweller said:
With the rubbish they will tell you to eat and the not to test you probably wouldn't see any difference for a year... and when you did it would be the wrong way.
Click to expand...
Actually she thought the low carb was a good idea - though I didn't mention the high fat bit in case she had a stroke!

Thanks for your feedback guys, it's reassuring to know that when my bloods are next checked I may be in the normal range (though I expect that does not make normal if that makes sense).
 
Loobles said:
I was told today that it can be a year to see the benefits of lifestyle changes on things like BG and BP. I really hope she was exaggerating because I've been at this 2 weeks and I'm really hoping to see some big benefits soon!
Click to expand...

My experience has been a slow physical response to low carbing but an almost instant response and improvement mentally with a lifting of brain fog, increase in energy levels and better sleeping. These improvements happened within days of converting to lchf and have been permanent. My weight loss has been slower than most, but has been steady and sure. I have lost a stone since March due partly perhaps by an increase in metformin to the maximum dose. Most importantly, all my tests at my three month review showed significant improvement, with reductions in bs, HbA1C and cholesterol etc.

My best advice would be not to expect too much too soon, but be grateful for any slight improvement which will indicate you are on the right track. For me, the return to feeling well again was far more encouraging than any weight loss, which was secondary and a bonus. My BS began lowering immediately but I'm still stuck with my fasting bloods, but this could be down to the supplements and medication I take in the evening. I think my weight loss is more noticeable physically than on the scales, in fact at the hairdressers last week, as she put the gown on me commented on how my shape had changed and demonstrated this by running her hands up and down my sides to emphasise my waist! *Shudder*

I too have an excellent DN who obviously can't promote lchf but who was so excited at my results that she asked how I had done it and nodded in approval when I told her.

Its early days. We don't all get immediate responses but cling to whatever indicates an improvement for you personally, rather than making comparisons.

Good luck with it all
 
I'm not going to supply day by day figures but it's interesting that this morning my fasting B/S was 8.8 - so higher than yesterday - but after 2 hours it was 8.7.

Pick your influencing factor(s) from:

Lower carb breakfast this morning (smoked mackerel and scrambled egg)
20 minute brisk walk to the newsagents and back, after breakfast
Taken 2 hours after eating rather than 90 minutes (but seems unlikely to make such a substantial difference, surely?)
My body is on a wind-up mission and is throwing out random blood/glucose numbers to mystify and enrage me
David Icke and the Giant Lizards are playing mind games with me

Still too blimmin' high, though ......
 
4) and 5) are definitely continuing factors for most of us ... Well maybe not David Icke ...
 
Another update: Levels have mostly been 8-ish over the past week, almost irrespective of when I do them, although I took a reading just before I went to bed, for the first time, last night and it was 6.1. I'm leaning back towards the David Icke theory (see above).

Had a blood test last week and spoke to my GP about the results on the phone this morning; apparently I am being a good boy: Last test, a month ago for diagnosis, showed HbA1c of 88; last week it was down to 44. Kidney function and blood count are normal and cholesterol is 4.0 (don't know what the previous reading was but I think it's down a bit). All of this is no doubt partly due to the fact that I was quite ill when the previous bloods were taken, which probably skewed the results, but whatever the reason, that will do me.

GP has now told me to stick at 2X 500 metformin per day, keep up with the exercise and carb reduction, and arrange to see the practice DN for usual checks to be set up.

So.... things could be (a lot) worse, I guess.
 
44 is great, that's back to what a pre-diabetic would show, well done!
 
That's interesting. HBA1C a month ago you say was 88 and a month later it is down to 44.

Not sure how to interpret that as the HBA1C covers the previous 10 to 12 weeks with more emphasis on the more recent weeks.

So the reading of 44 would cover some of the time period when the average was 88. This could mean one of two things, the first is that your average is actually below 44 and is being pushed up still by some of the previous higher weeks. The other possibility is that the 88 was pushed up by a period of illness that you mentioned and this has now dropped out of your current average.

Whatever the reason you should be encouraged that it is going completely in the right direction.

jim
 
My bs came down very quickly but I follow a different diet to you. There is a diet out there called low carb high fat. Basically ditch sugar, rice, bread, pasta and potatoes and eat meat, fish, eggs, cheese, cream, loads of veggies. The rationale is that your body converts starchy carbs into simple sugars which then are released into your blood. Your body produces more insulin because of the increased sugar. The insulin takes the sugar to your major organs where it is then changed into fat and stored around your major organs.
See http://www.dietdoctor.com
If you see your porridge oats as sugar, although slow release and starchy carbs as sugar would you still eat them?
 
I think the illness probably played merry Hell with the figures in the previous blood test, so in reality it may have been inaccurate; it seems very unlikely that I'd be below 44. However as you say, I'm pleased with the current figures.

Also, on reflection the previous test was more like 6 weeks ago...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…